ODBC to Oracle...problem!!!!

[MrNorth]

I have read about this problem before on forums, but I think mine is a bit special.

I am strying to get data from an oracle db, by using a WORKING ODBC connection. I have used this ODBC connection with crystal reports, so I know it is working. Now, I downloaded microsofts .net odbc (Microsoft.Data.Odbc; ) and from within my .NET application I have problems.

1)The Oracle DB contains several instances (like databases in SQL). How can I in the connection string, specify which one I want to work with??????

2)How should a CORRECT connection string look like? I want to connect by using the DSN.

3)I get the error that Oracle client software isn't installed when I run the application. That's correct I am not using oracle software on my workstation. I don't want to use it either...

Here is the code Im using... faulty

using Microsoft.Data.Odbc;  

namespace oracle_odbc_lab
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Summary description for WebForm1.
    /// </summary>
    public class WebForm1 : System.Web.UI.Page
    {
        private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
        {
            // Build a connection and SQL strings
            string connectionString 
                = @"Driver={Microsoft ODBC for Oracle};Server=testing.BMCEDS;UID=eda_user;PWD=eda" ;
            string SQL = "SELECT NAME FROM DATASOURCE";
            // Create connection object
            OdbcConnection conn = new OdbcConnection(connectionString);        
            // Create command object
            OdbcCommand cmd = new OdbcCommand(SQL);
            cmd.Connection = conn;    
            // Open connection
            conn.Open();
            // Call command's ExecuteReader
            OdbcDataReader reader = cmd.ExecuteReader();
            // Read the reader and display results on the console
            while (reader.Read()) 
            {
                Response.Write("Name:" + reader.GetString(0).ToString());
                Response.Write(" ,"); 
                
                //Console.WriteLine("Customer:" + reader.GetString(1).ToString() );
            }
            // close reader and connection
            reader.Close();
            conn.Close();

        } 

And we have made the mapping to the instance at the central oracle client (not my workstation). But that shouldn't matter since I am trying to use a WORKING LOCAL ODBC.

anyone who can help?

kind regards
Henrik

[MrNorth]

I have also tried:

string connectionString 
                = @"Provider=MSDAORA;DSN=testing;UID=eda_user;PWD=eda" ; 

and get the same problem.. that the oracle client components wheren't found. But then why on earth is it working with Crystal Reports and my current ODBC connection (testing, which is mappend to the instance BMCEDS...


I might tell you that the oracle client isn't installed locally, but rather mapped as a network path. When I run sqlplus from the network location everything is working fine, also everything is working fine from CR, but NOT from developer studio...

kind regards
Henrik

[MrGTI]

Just a quick stab at it, but have you checked out ConnectionStrings.com ?